Our main event for March was the Family Motor Coach Ass’n International Convention in Perry, GA March 14-17. Although not the record attendance from several years ago, the numbers were up from recent times (nearly 3,000 RVs), and most vendors we spoke with did quite well. From our perspective, the economy, and the RV industry, are definitely looking up! We offered our new Facebook seminar to a crowd of nearly 400, and people told us they learned a lot. The Picasa seminar had over 600 in the audience. I think my favorite story comes from our Blogger seminar. We always hear of people starting a blog the same day that they take our seminar, but this time, someone made a blog *during* the seminar – using her smart phone. And, in our Google Earth seminar someone with an iPad downloaded Google Earth and followed right along with us. Technology keeps marching on! We just try not to get too far out of step.

RVing: Learn more, enjoy it more

Our next rally is a special one … All RVers are invited to sign up for the 2011 RV Lifestyle, Education & Safety conference and learn about all phases of RVing. The conference is slated for May 6 to 8, 2011, at the Carroll Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green, Ky. What’s special about it from our viewpoint is that it’s small. If you sign up and come to our seminars you’ll be in a room with 20 people rather than 600! Lots more personal attention. And, if you’re looking for RV Education, it just doesn’t get any better. Here’s the lineup of instructors.

How to Send an Email without Knowing the Email Address

I met a woman in a campground last summer and I really wanted to keep in touch with her. We both wrote down our email addresses on slips of paper and exchanged them.

Now … *where is* that slip of paper? Nowhere to be found of course. But, I do remember her name.

Using Facebook, I can search for her name and Voila! there she is! There is a picture of her, so I’m sure I have the right person. Now comes the cool part, There’s a button in the upper right corner that reads, ‘Message’ click that and you can compose a message to be privately sent to this person. It will go to their Facebook messages area, *and* to their email. Facebook acts as the middle-man, sending the message to the person’s email address of record, without ever showing you the actual email address.

You don’t need to be a Facebook member to look up a person’s name – just go to www.facebook.com and click ‘People’ in the menu at the bottom of the page. You will then see a ‘Search for People’ box where you can type in the name you’re looking for.

You do need to be a Facebook member in order to send a message. If you’re not a member now, you will have the opportunity to sign up after you click ‘Message.’ It’s free, and the only information you need to supply are your name, email, gender, and date of birth. Don’t worry, you can specify that these items not be shared.

No Messaging Available?

If you find your acquaintance on Facebook, but don’t see a ‘Message’ button, it could be that they have blocked that feature from showing up to anyone but friends. Remember this when you set your own privacy settings. Messaging is available to Everyone by default, and I think that’s a good thing because it allows you to receive messages without giving away your email address. I have never received spam thru my Facebook account.

If you have more questions about Facebook, we recommend that you watch our Tutorial Videos listed below. Notice that two of them are marked as *Free* meaning that anyone can watch them. To view the others, you need to be a paid member of Geeks on Tour. You can join now if needed – it’s $39 for one year.

RV Destinations on Google Earth

At the last two FMCA (Family Motor Coach Ass’n) Conventions, Jim has assisted in the presentation of a seminar called ‘RV Destinations Exchange.’ The audience takes turns telling of their favorite destinations and Jim finds them on Google Earth and records the location. He promised to make the Google Earth files available for free download, and here they are!

Using Picasa to Post a Screenshot in a Forum Question

If you’ve ever used a forum to ask a questions, you know that a picture is truly worth 1,000 words. Let’s say for example that you want to ask, “What are the buttons at the top of each folder in Picasa?” Wouldn’t it be nice to have a picture of those buttons, so your reader knows exactly what you mean? That’s called a screen capture and there are several ways to do it, but one of the easiest is by using Picasa and Picasa Web Albums.

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. To see the archives of past newsletters, go to www.geeksontour.com/newsletters.